


Ink & Paper

by sephmeadowes



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Forbidden Love, Magic, Teens, girls making bad decisions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26276239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sephmeadowes/pseuds/sephmeadowes
Summary: This beautiful boy of paper and ink. One she could never touch.
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	Ink & Paper

Magic manifested differently in every person. Others could bend and break the matter around them while others could create something out of nothing. Jade was the latter of the two. Her magic manifested in her drawings.

She was five when she did it for the first time. She drew a unicorn, all sloppy lines and uneven coloring. She watched as the unicorn crawled out of the paper with its white man and cotton candy pink mane. Its horn was a bright yellow that glinted as he leaned down and exhaled into her hair.

She laughed and reached up to grab its snout. The unicorn let out a dismayed neigh as soon as her fingers made contact with it. She watched in dismay as the unicorn went grey to black then dissolved into a puddle of ink. She was covered in the black substance and sat on her bedroom floor in shock before she burst into tears.

Over the years, she continued to create. Little things like flowers or rocks. Never large living beings like the unicorn. Even when her fingers itched to create fantastical things, she stuck to the mundane, refusing to create something she could kill with a single touch.

Then she turned sixteen and Andrew Cain broke her heart. No, she never loved Adrian, but her pride was hurt at having to be dumped for his side chick. And he hadn’t been the first disappointing excuse of a boyfriend she’d had. Before him had been Callum and before that was Peter, all perfect boys on the surface but so ugly on the inside.

And she’d chosen them because there had been something in each one she liked. Callum had the most beautiful green eyes. Andrew had wonderful dark hair. And Adrian had a perfect smile. All together and it was…

She dropped her sketchpad as she realized what she had done. She’d promised never to make anything large and alive again. But it was too late to stop it as a hand crawled out first from the page before it pulled itself out slowly. There was Andrew’s dark hair followed by Callum’s green eyes and finally Adrian’s smile.

She had made the perfect boy. He stood over her dressed in the simple shirt and jeans she’d drawn him in, his feet bare. She didn’t dare move closer to him. He knelt down to be at level with her.

“Hello,” he said. His voice was deep with perfect crisp vowels. “What is my name?”

“I…” She did not know what to say. “You don’t have one.”

“Yes, but may I have one?” He furrowed his eyebrows. “Most people have names, right?”

She almost corrected him. He wasn’t really a person. He was all paper and ink. And he did not need a name. But it sounded cruel to say that, even to non-people.

“Maybe I can be Callum?” he suggested. “Or Adrian? Or Andrew? Or all of them?”

“No!” she retorted. “You can’t be any or all of them!”

“Why not?” he questioned. “Isn’t that why you made me?”

She stared at his impossibly handsome face. She really was talented enough to make such a perfect face, wasn’t she? It urged her to run her fingers through his hair or to press her mouth against his. She sat on her hands to stop herself.

“I don’t know why I made you,” she finally admitted. “I wasn’t thinking.”

He cocked his head to the side, assessing her. His green eyes seemed to gaze straight into her soul. “Maybe we can find out why together.”

She should reach over and end this. Where this was headed was painful and cruel and wrong. He wasn’t real, not really. And it would be unethical to let him continue to think he was real and alive. The right thing to do would be reach over and…

“Don’t!”

His hand froze in mid-air as she scrambled back to get further away from him. She only stopped as her back hit her bedroom door. His hand was still outstretched towards her like a believer praying to a deity. And she was that for him, wasn’t she?

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed. “Don’t _ever_ touch me.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied, softly. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to control her breathing. She was so close to hyperventilating as hysteria began to set in. She had done something terrible. The unicorn hadn’t been able to talk or to show emotions. It had died before it could be anything more than a child’s dream. This was a monstrous thing.

“I think I know why you made me,” He continued. “You made me to love you.”

She wanted to deny it. Except he was staring at her like she’d always wished any of her exes would, like she wished anyone would. Like he loved her and she was precious and deserved to be worshiped. Not something ordinary and easily disposable.

“You should choose it.”

He asked, “What?”

“Your name,” she explained. “You should choose what name you want.”

“Adam,” He smiled, nodding. “I like that name.”

It was fitting. The first man in the Bible. And he was the first of something, wasn’t he? This beautiful boy of paper and ink. One she could never touch.


End file.
